Best of the Worst
| last_aired = present | related_shows = Mr. Plinkett Reviews Half in the Bag Game Station 2.0 Best of the Worst Previously Recorded | serieslogo = }} Best of the Worst is an American review web series created by Mike Stoklasa, Jay Bauman, and Rich Evans and edited by Stoklasa and Bauman, which focuses on B-movies and bizarre video releases from the VHS era. The series premiered on January 18, 2013, and is filmed around the Red Letter Media office and studio. Each episode features brief introductions of the releases, excerpts from the screenings, panel discussions with a rotating cast, and the occasional destruction of videos. The films selected for review are often related thematically. In the second and third seasons, the show incorporated framing sketches and guest stars into the format, and expanded its scope to include interviews with well-known B-movie actors and directors. The series follows the Best of the Worst gang as they watch and discuss terrible movies and videos, some of which are viewer-submitted. In the process, they determine which of the releases should be considered the "Best of the Worst." The candidates for review are generally chosen prior to the episode's filming, but certain episodes have introduced different conceits to randomize the video selection, such as the "torture devices" Wheel of the Worst and Choose 'n' Lose, and mystery holiday gifts from Santa Claus. Premise In Best of the Worst, a group of friends, filmmakers, and film enthusiasts get together to watch and discuss bad movies and odd videos. In the process, they determine which of the releases in their extensive collection are the "Best of the Worst". The video selections in each episode are usually related by theme, and each video is evaluated by its merits or lack thereof. Cast The series stars Mike Stoklasa, Jay Bauman, Rich Evans, Josh Davis, Jessi Nakles, and Jack Packard, and the cast members rotate for the viewings and the four person panel discussions. Episodes generally feature a partial cast, since a minimum of four members are required for each panel discussion. As such, the full cast has appeared together in the series four times, and only Bauman and Evans have appeared in all episodes. Guest stars, such as Canadian visual effects artists Colin Cunningham and Jim Maxwell, Feeding Frenzy star Gillian Bellinger, and writer-director Len Kabasinski, have made appearances in regular episodes and participated in the discussion panels. In interview specials, two members of the regular cast also interview B-movie stars, most notably Kabasinski and Samurai Cop star Matt Hannon. Episodes Information about Wheel of the Worst picks are listed on the individual episode pages. Series overview Season 1 (2013) The first season of Best of the Worst consists on seven episodes, released between January 2013 and May 2013. Season 2 (2013-2014) The second season of Best of the Worst was released between August 2013 and March 2014. Starting with the season two premiere, the show introduced comedic skits to frame each episode and included guest stars. Season 3 (2014-present) Season three of Best of the Worst premiered May 2014. Specials (2014) Production Conception and development Best of the Worst was conceived by Mike Stoklasa, Jay Bauman, and Rich Evans as way to document and share their experiences of watching bad movies. Stoklasa and Bauman, both avid B-movie fans, often reviewed cult classics during the first and second seasons of film review web series Half in the Bag. Early episodes of Half in the Bag featured B-movie staples such as The Galaxy Invader, Samurai Cop, Troll 2 and its companion documentary Best Worst Movie, Zaat!, and The Black Ninja. One episode was entirely devoted to the 2012 lineup of B-Fest, a 24 hour festival held in Chicago which continuously screens B-movies. Some of these episodes also prominently featured Best of the Worst regular Josh Davis as well as Rich Evans. This enthusiasm for B-movies was not limited to Half in the Bag. A short video of the future Best of the Worst cast meeting Tommy Wiseau at a screening of The Room was featured on the Red Letter Media website in 2010. In addition, Stoklasa and Bauman produced video mash-ups, using movie footage to highlight the incompetence and absurdity in a movie's premise and execution. Stoklasa created fake advertisements for Pabst Blue Ribbon using footage from The Galaxy Invader and made a trailer for a fake film titled Sparky!, using footage from the horror film Embryo. Bauman produced traditional mash-ups, creating a supercut of Road House for Half in the Bag and editing together various scene loops from different Friday the 13th sequels. After the demise of video game review series Game Station 2.0 in May 2012, Mike Stoklasa, Jay Bauman, and Rich Evans continued producing film reviews for Half in the Bag and Mr. Plinkett Reviews. The production of Game Station 2.0 had been plagued by problems with the show's scope and format. Since neither Stoklasa nor Bauman were avid gamers, the brunt of the review work fell to Evans. Evans had little desire to develop Game Station 2.0 further and Red Letter Media's partnership with prominent gaming YouTube channel Machininma.com was terminated in 2012, so Stoklasa and Bauman gave up pursuing the video game audience and renewed their focus on reviewing films. At the same time, the focus of Half in the Bag shifted towards reviewing recent theatrical releases. The content of the first two seasons, which involved B-movies and fan convention coverage, was phased out entirely and a conduit for discussing B-movies was lost. The only B-movie featured in either seasons three and four of Half in the Bag was Things, a film which was first mentioned in season two. Since the group and their friends often watched and discussed many terrible movies, Stoklasa, Bauman, and Evans decided to launch Best of the Worst as a new series. Bauman explained that B-movies were rarely featured in the later seasons of Half in the Bag because very few B-movies are interesting enough to warrant detailed breakdown and analysis. Best of the Worst became the first review series produced since Game Station 2.0 and the first film review series since Half in the Bag. Format Best of the Worst, unlike the other Red Letter Media shows, is an ensemble review show. Episodes in the series include footage from the video screenings and the panel discussions and episode length ranges from 30 minutes to 60 minutes long. While previous review series revolved around the core team of Mike Stoklasa, Jay Bauman, and Rich Evans, Best of the Worst marks the first regular appearances of many Red Letter Media collaborators, such as Jessi Nakles, who previously performed behind-the-scenes work for Half in the Bag and actors Jack Packard and Josh Davis, both of whom had roles in Half in the Bag and The Grabowskis. Nakles and Davis first appeared in a video documenting Red Letter Media's meeting with Tommy Wiseau. Episodes are generally composed of short introductions for each featured film, footage from the screenings, and a panel discussion interwoven with relevant scenes from the movies or the screening. Panel discussions require a minimum of four people, and often only a part of the cast is present for an episode. However, this flexibility makes it easier to produce Best of the Worst, since an episode can be filmed as long as any four of the cast is available. In season two and three, the series incorporated framing skits to bookend each episode, introduced continuity, and included guest stars. In the skits, the cast plays exaggerated versions of themselves. Guest stars, such as Canadian visual effects artists Colin Cunningham and Jim Maxwell, Feeding Frenzy star Gillian Bellinger, and writer-director Len Kabasinski, have participated in the screenings, discussion panels, and the opening skits. In season three, an interview segment portion was launched called "A Conversation With", in which members of the Best of the Worst cast interview B-movie directors and actors. Title sequence The regular title sequence of Best of the Worst emulates the SD television screen as a VHS is being played, complete with video static bands and warping. Wheel of the Worst episodes have a custom title sequence using "Motocross" from the iMovie music library and a demonic voice-over by Mike Stoklasa, which showcases Red Letter Media's extensive video collection and the Wheel of the Worst. Filming Filming takes place primarily in the Red Letter Media office and the studio. The video introductions and the screenings are shot in different rooms of the office, while panel discussions are set up in between sets in the studio. The framing skits are filmed in multiple locations using handheld cameras. There are separate static camera set-ups for screenings and discussions. The screenings are recorded using a single camera in a wide-shot and audio is captured using standing mics on the floor. The discussions generally use three cameras as in Half in the Bag, using one for a wide-shot and the remaining two for close-ups, and audio for each person is captured separately using wired lavalier microphones, since the studio is a large reverberant room and a poor location for audio capture. Post-production The footage collected for Best of the Worst is assembled and edited by Mike Stoklasa and Jay Bauman. Finished episodes vary in length from approximately 30 minutes to 60 minutes, longer than Game Station 2.0 or Half in the Bag, but shorter than the comprehensive Mr. Plinkett Reviews. According to Bauman, Best of the Worst is a strenuous exercise in editing. The discussion portions must be edited down to a manageable length and intercut with scenes from the movies or the screenings. In addition, separately captured audio tracks from the discussion panel are mixed in a way to focus on the speaker. The episodes "Ninja Movies!" and "Direct-to-Video Horror" both demonstrate how chaotic a discussion can get without properly edited and mixed audio. While the screening and discussion footage are usually not enhanced with visual effects, digital zooms are used liberally. References External Links * Best of the Worst on RedLetterMedia * Best of the Worst on Internet Movie Database Category:Best of the Worst